Isaiah29:13

Translation

Therefore, YHVH (read Adonai) said, “In as much as this people draws near to me with their mouths, and honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far removed from me, and their fear of me is only commands taught by men,

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Paraphrase

Therefore, THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD said, “Because these people say they want to draw near to me, and their speech sounds like they want to honor me, but their hearts are actually a long distance from me and their reverent expressions toward me are only a code that has been taught by men,

Footnotes

1

Why did God call the rituals He had told them to perform a code taught by man? He called it this because they had kept the outward, visible part of his commands and abandoned the invisible, heart issues, or what I am calling the spiritual principles. They had taught only the part that they could measure and failed to teach the parts that God alone can measure. It was as if someone offered you clam soup (go along with me even if you don’t think you would like clam soup) only for you to find that they had removed the meat from the shells and only placed the shells in the soup. The Israelites had gotten rid of the most important part and kept the least important part, and thought they were still OK, or thought they could fool God.